This Quiet Oklahoma Town Is An Underrated Gem For Nature Lovers
Davis is a small town and home to the tallest waterfall in Oklahoma. Turner Falls drops 77 feet into a clear pool on Honey Creek two minutes off I-35. Just upstream sits Collings Castle. A University of Oklahoma professor built it in the 1930s as a stone-keep summer house and you can still walk through its rooms. South of town the Chickasaw National Recreation Area runs trails past bison pastures and rocky overlooks. The Lake of the Arbuckles spreads across 2,300 acres for kayaking and fishing. Each spring a zipline called the 777 Zip sends riders 777 feet through the air right over the falls. Davis has around 3,000 residents and a small handful of locally owned cabins and diners. It is the kind of town you stop in for an afternoon and end up staying the weekend.
Why Davis Stays Off the Radar
Davis does not turn up in many top-ten Oklahoma travel lists, which is part of the appeal: the trails and overlooks stay uncrowded. The Arbuckles handle most of the natural-beauty workload, but the town itself is worth time once you are off the highway. Locals turn up at the Home Plate Diner most days of the week for burgers, patty melts, and the rest of the standard diner spread.
What Makes Davis Unique
The Mountains
The Arbuckle Mountains are ancient. The Tishomingo Granite at their core dates to roughly 1.4 billion years ago, putting the basement rocks among the oldest exposed bedrock in the United States. The mountains themselves are gentle and rolling rather than craggy, more a study in worn-down geology than dramatic vertical scenery. Geologists value the range because millions of years of sedimentary rock are exposed across short distances, giving a clear cross-section of Cambrian through Pennsylvanian deposits. Sitting inside this landscape is Collings Castle, a stone keep built in the 1930s by Dr. Ellsworth Collings of the University of Oklahoma as a private summer home. The castle is small, but you can still walk through its rooms today.
The Water
Turner Falls is the most photographed feature in the park. The 77-foot waterfall drops into a small natural pool on Honey Creek, and the surrounding park spans about 1,500 acres of swimming areas, shaded picnic spots, and short rocky hiking paths leading to overlooks above the creek. The Lake of the Arbuckles is the other major water draw in the region, with 36 miles of shoreline and 2,300 acres of open water. It is good for kayaking and paddling, and anglers come for bass, bluegill, and catfish.
Hikes, Caves, and Springs
The larger area around Davis rewards anyone willing to hike. Turner Falls Park has shorter trails that loop around the falls and nearby rock formations, but most longer routes are inside Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The Bison Pasture Trail runs about 2.5 miles through forested hills and grasslands, and the Bromide Hill Trail is just under a mile and ends at an overlook above Travertine Creek. The wider Arbuckles are known for karst topography, with hundreds of springs feeding the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer and a network of small caves throughout the range.
A Town Built for the Outdoors
Davis takes its outdoor identity seriously. Locally run cabins and lodges fill in the lodging gap left by a lack of chain hotels, with Cedarvale Cabins about 4 minutes from Turner Falls Park and 20 minutes from Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The town is a manageable drive from Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Dallas, which makes it a quiet base for anyone who wants to spread out beyond the immediate attractions.
The Best Time to Visit Davis
Spring is arguably the best time to visit. The trees and wildflowers come back, the weather warms, and the seasonal attractions reopen after winter. The 777 Zip is the main draw of the warmer months: the zipline runs 777 feet through the air directly over Collings Castle and Turner Falls. Fall brings a different kind of beauty as the leaves change. Even winter is workable, since Turner Falls Park stays open for fishing year-round.
Why Davis Should Be on the Radar for Nature Lovers
Davis packs a lot of outdoor variety into a small footprint: the 77-foot Turner Falls dropping into the clear waters of Honey Creek, the karst springs and caves that run through the Arbuckle Mountains, and the open trails of Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The exit off I-35 is easy to miss, but Davis remains one of the most accessible nature stops in Oklahoma.
